Snap’s IPO: Some Data From The Geo-Filter Based ‘Camera Company’

Snap has issued its highly anticipated IPO filing, and hopes for raising up to $4 Billion. The IPO filing revealed a lot of new data, and repositioned the Venice,CA-based social player as “a camera company” that “represents an opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate.”

Snap’s appeal to advertisers is its real power to engage Millennial consumers, who are attracted to the company’s video and image-centric mindset (and that it deletes posts after a few minutes). It cites IDC research showing that 88% of a men’s deodorant ad, for instance, went to 18-34 year olds. Users under 25 typically go to the app 20 X a day and spend 30 minutes on it. The minority of Snap users that are over 25 used it 12X a day for 20 minutes.

The company reported $404.5 Million in 2016, up from just $58.7 Million in 2015. Its average revenue per user was $1.08 in the 4th quarter. The vast majority of its 158 Million active, daily users come from 10 countries with the U.S., Canada and UK leading the way. It claims 60 Million users in the U.S. and Canada, and 10 million in the UK.

We’re especially watching Snap’s success with its geo-filters, which are generally nationally oriented but can go hyperlocal. More than one billion geo-filter snaps — both video and image — are taken every day. They’ve been expanded beyond Points of Interest to include just about everything.

It is possible, of course, that Snap will prove to be a flash-in-the-pan, although the successful roll-out of its Spectacles sunglasses last year suggests it has real legs. Facebook’s Instagram, with its “stories,” Facebook itself, Google (which it relies on for Cloud service) and Twitter are the social media players that are considered its direct competitors.